For my husband’s 30th birthday, I surprised him with a trip to Iceland. Iceland is somewhere that he’s always wanted to go to, and I really wanted to treat him with something extra special for his 30th. So I plotted and schemed and booked an amazing deal in January and kept it secret until his birthday in August (don’t ask me how I did that. I’ve no idea how I managed to keep it a secret for so long. And there was definitely some near slip ups, let me tell you!)
And oh my gosh. Iceland was so beyond perfect. We both absolutely adored it. We packed a lot into our five days there as well, we could have easily spent about a fortnight. It was so us; stunning scenery, cool temperatures, whales, amazing food, and all the cute little cafes.
Tips for travelling to Iceland:
We weren’t sure what the best way to get around and see things was going to be, so because we were only there for five days we decided to book excursion through Reykjavik Excursions. They were honestly so good, the drivers were fab and we saw some amazing things and met some really lovely fellow travellers.
Make sure you do the Golden Circle and the Blue Lagoon – they’re popular for a reason!
If you can, try and make it to the glacial lake, Jökulsárlón. It’s a long day from Reykjavik but it’s just breathtaking, and one of my favourite moments of our holiday was looking out over the lake.
We got a really amazing deal flying from Manchester on the August bank holiday by booking in the January sales on Expedia. There are some really cheap flight deals from the UK so make sure you shop around!
The only downside was our hotel was kind of far out from the town centre. I found it unusually hard to figure out where to stop. If possible, try and find a hotel on or just off Laugavegur, which is the main shopping street with lots of cafes, bars, restaurants etc.
The food in Iceland is absolutely amazing although it can be pricey. Everything seemed to be made from fresh ingredients, even the pub lunch we had, but places can be very busy so it’s best to book.
Here are just a few of the photos taken on our travels.